Off-screen relationship helped Lawrence, Pratt create 'Passengers'
Jennifer Lawrence, right, and Chris Pratt pose at a press conference in Seoul, Friday. / Yonhap
By Kim Jae-heun
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, currently two of the hottest Hollywood movie stars, said their off-screen friendship helped their on-screen chemistry for their upcoming blockbuster “Passengers” that is set to premiere on Dec. 21 in the U.S. and Jan. 5 in Korea.
“When Chris and I first met, we became really fast friends,” said Lawrence during a press conference at CGV Theater in Yeongdeungpo Times Square, southwestern Seoul, Friday. “We had a similar sense of humor and I think that our friendship really helped not just us have more fun but I think our personal chemistry really helped the movie exponentially.”
Pratt agreed their acting benefited from their relationship off screen and he feels he met a lifelong friend. He added he has known Jennifer from her previous work and knew instinctively they would have great chemistry, which translates in the movie.
Both Lawrence and Pratt said they agreed to star in “Passengers” for its original script.
“I believe that the script was perfect,” Pratt said. “And I really loved the elements of the script that are very daring and on the controversial. When you see the movie, you will understand what it is I was added that wasn’t changed. I am really glad. I think it was a brave choice for our writers to write this script and I am just really proud of it.”
The 37-year-old actor previously said he would only participate in the movie if they make no changes to the script.
The actress added the screenplay is completely original and has many elements she has never experienced or explored in her life. Lawrence said the script combines a thriller and an exciting love story between two people in space that makes the film so rare.
“Passengers,” directed by Morten Tyldum, depicts a love story in deep space between Jim and Aurora, an engineer and a journalist each played by Pratt and Lawrence. They are in their hibernation pods on a 120-year journey to a distant planet in a luxury spaceship, but the pair wakes up 90 years too early.
Asked what they would have done if the two were in the same predicament, both said it would have been severe mental torture for them.
“I’d do the same thing that our characters do in the movie. I‘d be consumed by trying everything that I can to go back to sleep or to fix this predicament,” Lawrence said.
“It’s very difficult to imagine what I’d do in that situation. I feel one of the themes of this movie is that life is meaningless if you can’t share it with somebody.
“Personally I am very dependent on my relationships that I have in my life,” Pratt said. “With human interaction, I think it is very important to everybody and being isolated and being alone is… it can be torture.”